When the Bible is all that's left

In today's Faith in Film blog post, we're going to tackle The Book of Eli. CONSIDER THIS YOUR SPOILER WARNING! If you haven't seen it, it's a 2010 action film starring Denzel Washington at the top of his game. This one requires a bit of a disclaimer: the movie is violent at points, and there is a fair bit of harsh language throughout.

You may be thinking, "Why even tackle this? An action movie rife with cursing? What possible value could a Catholic glean from this?" Stick with me here: there's more to this one than meets the eye.

The Book of Eli is set in a post-apocalyptic American future. There was some form of climate disaster that led to "the last war," which wiped out the majority of humanity and pretty much all infrastructure. In the years following, the remaining pockets of humanity have banded together into violent, roving gangs.

It's a bleak, ugly picture of the future, accentuated by the film's bleak color palette and dusty, barren scenery. Our main character is Washington's Eli, a mysterious protagonist cut from the same cloth as many of Clint Eastwood's classic cowboy roles. He walks with a purpose and always wears those "cool guy" sunglasses that were so popular in the 2000s and early 2010s. He's quiet and contemplative but fully capable of defending himself with surprising ferocity, as we see when a group of bandits try to rob him.

From the very start, Eli is shown to be a hard and driven man. He scavenges for supplies, hunts for his food, and always heads west. He's clearly on some sort of quest or mission, but we don't know what it is, at least not at first. A short while into the movie, we learn something surprising about Eli: he carries a Bible, and reads from it frequently.

See? I told you there was more to this than meets the eye! The Bible is a massive part of this movie. Eli's Bible is significant because the majority of the world's books were burned or destroyed during the apocalypse. The film's central conflict arises when Eli makes a stop into a small town on his journey westward.

This small, seemingly innocuous town is, like everything in this movie, more than it seems. It's controlled by a man named Carnegie, played by Gary Oldman. Man, is this guy good at playing villains or what? Carnegie is in effect a warlord, controlling a few roving gangs and groups of thugs. He's also amassed a small personal library, tasking his minions with bringing any books they find on their exploits back to him.

When Carnegie hears that there's a man with a Bible in his town, his eyes light up, and he immediately takes steps to acquire it. Eli of course resists, and we have our conflict. The majority of the movie consists of Eli continuously fleeing westward while Carnegie and his men chase after him with intent to kill.

Throughout this violent pursuit, we learn some more things about Eli. He seems to be under some sort of divine protection. Bullets miss him when they should hit him, he's faster and stronger than a man his age should be, and he always credits his physical and combat prowess to God. It's so against the grain for a post-apocalyptic action movie!

As the film progresses, things become more dire for Eli and a traveling companion he picks up along the way. Carnegie and his men eventually catch up to them, successfully shoot Eli, and take the book. This is right towards the end of the film, and it sets us up for 3 big twist revelations that happen in quick succession.

1. Eli has been travelling to Alcatraz, a site where many books have been preserved, and where humanity is attempting to rebuild its lost knowledge and culture. We realize this when his companion drags him there, mortally wounded, just in the nick of time. His life is saved, but only just.
   

2. Eli is blind. Carnegie brings the Bible back to his town and makes a big show of opening it by himself in a locked room. We see rage come over him as he opens the cover, shouting, "He can't be....he CAN'T be...that's impossible!" The Bible is braille.
   

3. Eli has the entire Bible memorized from start to finish. Juxtaposed with the braille scene, we see Eli approaching the archivist at Alcatraz and asking him to get a lot of writing paper. He then tells him that he is in possession of a King James Bible, lays back on a couch, and begins to recite the opening passage of Genesis. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light..."

It's both jarring and refreshing to see the Bible play such a central, positive role in a big Hollywood movie, even if it is the King James (worth noting that this is a Protestant Bible that contains fewer books than the Catholic Bible). It's even more surprising to see divine protection and providence displayed as they are in Eli.

I think the best message that we can take from this film is that the Word of God has real power. Even in a world where books are burned, people are violent, and all seems lost, the Scriptures have real value and make a real difference. Even just one person living in accordance with the Word of God can, quite literally, change the world.

The Bible is not some dusty old relic that we pull out once a week. Some would even say it stands for "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth!" Clever, right? If you remember back to Father Romans' Spiritual Resolutions for 2022 a couple of weeks ago, NUMBER ONE was to read the Bible more! Even if it's just a chapter a day, it will make a difference in your life.

The Book of Eli is a film about how faith and the Word of God can shine as a light in the darkness, even the darkness of the aftermath of a nuclear war. If that light can shine there, you better believe it can shine in our own darkness today as well.

God Bless,

Regis

Ogres Have Layers

Welcome to the first Faith in Film blog post to tackle an animated movie! That's right, folks: it's Shrek time. Shrek is, in many ways, the anti-fairy tale. It literally begins with a large, foul-mouthed ogre using a classic "prince charming rescues a princess from a tall tower with a kiss" fairy tale as a piece of toilet paper. Right from the start, you know that this isn't your usual, smarmy Disney movie (as a matter of fact, it's made by Dreamworks).

At every turn, Shrek seeks to disrupt the formula we're all so familiar with. The fact that Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy star as the voices of Shrek and Donkey, respectively, only drives home this irreverence. But peel back the top layer of Shrek (see what I did there?), and one finds a movie with a surprisingly moral message.

Shrek, at its core, is a rejection of the idea that one must be classically attractive, unobtrusive, well versed in etiquette, and born of the proper status to be a hero or affect positive change in the world. Just look at the title character! He's a large, smelly, vulgar ogre who lives in a swamp and gets crotchety whenever someone steps on his lawn. Not exactly a knight in shining armor!

This is a film about taking the time to get to know someone and recognizing that they may have real good hidden underneath whatever exterior they may project. This is summed up in a surprisingly insightful scene where Donkey and Shrek are walking through a field of sunflowers together.

When Shrek tells Donkey that there's more to ogres than people think, Donkey asks for an example. After pausing to think, Shrek says that "ogres...are like onions!" Donkey, misunderstanding, goes through a litany of characteristics that ogres and onions share (they smell, they make you cry, etc.) before Shrek enlightens him.

He says that ogres have layers, just like an onion has layers. This is a very rudimentary way of saying that they're complex. Makes sense, right? Just about everyone is a complex bundle of hopes, dreams, emotions, likes, dislikes, convictions, etc. We all have a lot going on under the hood!

There's a word that I was exposed to in high school that I haven't been able to get out of my head since then. The word is "sonder". It's a noun, and it's defined as "The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own." Woof! That's a lot to take in.

It's true, though! Every single person you pass on the street is living a life as vivid and complex as yours. They're managing work, relationships, finances, health, leisure, and any number of different things just like you. But we don't think of them like that, do we? Oftentimes we think of them in much simpler, much less flattering terms.

That's not the single father of 2 rushing to get to work on time so he can feed his kids, that's the jerk who cut you off in traffic. That's not the veteran whose PTSD and mental illness from her time in Iraq have left her jobless and begging for enough money to buy dinner, that's the homeless woman on the side of the street who you try to avoid eye contact with. See what I mean?

John Koenig, an author and voice actor from Idaho, has a wonderful video on this word, which I'll link below. He frames each of our lives in terms of movies (fitting, right?). We are each the main character in our own story, surrounding by our supporting cast (our closest friends and family). A little further out, we have our loose network of acquaintances, the people we drift in and out of contact with over the years.

And then, even further out, are the extras. These are the people in traffic with us, the folks sitting in the booth to our left while we order our coffee, the teller at the bank, and the cashier at the grocery store. They make brief appearances in our lives and often vanish shortly thereafter, never to be seen again.

A sonder is the realization that these extras are each the main character in their own movie. They each have their own supporting cast, group of acquaintances, and extras. They could be dealing with just as much as we are, and we would never even know it!

This is what Shrek is about at its core. He is an easy book to judge by his cover. He's big, green, ugly, mean, and acts like he wants to be left alone. Closed case, right? WRONG. As we learn throughout the movie Shrek is capable of love, compassion, courage, and any number of things.

It's an obvious allegory, but a solid one nonetheless. How do we live it? Easy! Try to cut the extras in your life a little more slack (and your supporting cast, too, while you're at it!). Don't curse them out for cutting you off, say a prayer that they get where they're going safely. Don't look away from them in discomfort, give them a friendly wave. It takes very little to brighten someone's day!

Especially in this time of vicious division, we could all use a little more kindness in our lives. Let's all try not to judge folks by their outward appearance or characteristics; instead, let's remember that they're living lives as vivid and complex as our own and give them the benefit of the doubt a bit more. It costs nothing, and you won't have to carry around the weight of anger, frustration, and judgement!

The Founder - 1 Timothy 6:10

Welcome back to another Faith in Film blog post! Today, we're going to examine The Founder, the excellent biopic about McDonald's tycoon Ray Kroc starring Michael Keaton. Coincidentally, this film came out in 2016, the same year as Wednesday's movie, Arrival! Guess it was a good year for cinema. Don't worry; we'll include movies from other years as well!

As the film begins, we're introduced to traveling salesman Ray Kroc. He's a bit pushy, as uninvited salespeople can be from time to time, but he's not a bad guy. He and his wife live in a nice, cozy home in Illinois, but he spends a lot of time on the road. It's clear he's not happy with his life and wants something more. Keaton's performance is top-notch here; he really nails that gleam in the eye that sells Kroc's ambition.

It's clear that Ray has sold a number of different products over the years, and his wife intimates that he's been sure each one would be the "next big thing." When we meet him, it's milkshake mixers. We see a montage of him unsuccessfully pitching them to the owners of various drive-ins and gas stations.

Things change for Kroc when a random California hamburger stand orders six of the mixers. He assumes it's a mistake and calls to check in on the order. The man on the other end of the phone says, "You're right, six won't cut it; better make it eight," and hangs up, leaving Kroc holding a payphone with an astonished look on his face.

Being the ambitious guy that he is, he decides to drive all the way out to California to see the place for himself. If you haven't guessed, the name of that burger stand was McDonald's. It was run by Dick and Mac McDonald (played by Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch, respectively) using Dick's "Speedee System," a revolutionary new way of cooking burgers that resulted in customers being served their orders in under 30 seconds.

Ray sees this for the brilliant idea that it is and convinces the brothers to make him their business partner to help build more McDonald's restaurants. This is where Ray Kroc begins to change. The business becomes successful...very successful, in fact. More restaurants are opened, profits begin to pour in, and his ambition is kicked up a notch.

We see a number of phone calls between Ray and the McDonald brothers where he encourages them to cut corners to save profits - stuff like using powdered milkshake mixes to save on freezer costs. The McDonald brothers constantly resist Kroc, and the terms of their contract make it so that he can't make any changes without their say-so. Tension begins to grow between the partners.

This is where Ray Kroc has his stroke of genius (with a bit of help from a young lawyer - BJ Novak's Harry Sonneborn). He starts a real estate company and begins buying the plots for future McDonald's franchises. He leases the land directly to the franchisees and makes money hand-over-fist, effectively "owning" any new location built under the McDonald's umbrella.

As the money comes in, Ray's true character begins to show. He begins scheming to cut the McDonald brothers out of the business, strongarms his franchisees, and even divorces his wife for a younger woman. The influx of money and power turns a normal (if a bit ambitious) guy into a ruthless, cutthroat businessman.

To make a long story short, it's not a happy ending. Ray eventually succeeds in boxing the brothers out of the business, albeit with a hefty buyout. In a cruel twist, they're allowed to own and operate their original hamburger shop - but they can't use the McDonald's name. They aren't allowed to use their own last name for their business, as it's now owned by Ray Kroc. Their small shop, now called "The Big M," closes six years later.

The sad thing about this story is that it's true! The lesson is pretty clear here. There is nothing wrong with money, but it shouldn't be our sole focus in life, as it was for Ray Kroc. Two biblical passages come to mind. The first is Matthew 6:24, where Jesus says, "No one can serve two masters...you cannot serve God and wealth."

Wealth was God for Ray Kroc, and it destroyed his relationships and his morality. He ruined the lives of the McDonald brothers and his wife, and he played a large part in the lowering of the quality of food that many Americans consume with his corner-cutting. This is not to say that earning money is bad, only that it should not be our first or only priority.

This leads nicely into the second passage, from 1 Timothy 6:10, where Saint Paul tells us that "the love of money is the root of all evil." He's right! Contrary to Michael Douglas' famous line from Wall Street, greed is neither good nor right. Money is not inherently bad, but placing too much importance on it is.

Ray Kroc was an ordinary man with extraordinary business prospects. He hit it big, and it changed him for the worse. Let us never allow ourselves to see our priorities become as disordered as his did, and let us always remember which master we serve! See you next Wednesday for our next edition of Faith in Film.